‘Batman V. Superman’ Will Battle For March Record As Ticket Pre-Sales Start Monday – Box Office

After Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Deadpool sent shock waves through the box office charts, the town is waiting with bated breath for the opening of Warner Bros’ Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice on March 25.Word is already out that tickets will go on sale on Monday at 7 AM PT. At this point, projections from rival studios and tracking executives have this DC feature adaptation opening with a domestic weekend ranging from $100M-$140M. For some, it won’t be a shocker should Batman v. Superman topple Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games’ March opening record of $152.5M. Disney owns the month’s second-highest FSS with Alice in Wonderland at $116.1M in 2010.

Batman v. Superman is playing over Easter weekend, which has become a huge launchpad for tentpoles. A majority of schools are off due to Good Friday — 76% of K-12 schools and 45% colleges, according to Rentrak. Still, the Christian high holy day doesn’t curb moviegoing: Furious 7 logged the best opening day ever for April on Good Friday last year, with $67.4M on its way to the best pre-summer opening of all-time at $147.2M. And Batmanv. Superman‘s momentum doesn’t cease with Easter weekend: On Monday, March 28, 45% of K-12 schools are off with 15% colleges on break.

Warner Bros would not comment on estimates at this time. Batman v. Superman hits tracking boards next Thursday, which is when there will be a more definite grasp as to where its first FSSis heading. Keep in mind, due to the finite statistical sampling of films debuting north of $100M, record openings are a challenge for many to predict.

For those projecting the higher end of Batman v. Superman‘sopening, it’s a no-brainer: “These are two massive properties coming together,” said one analyst. The title is essentially DC’s attempt at emulating Marvel’s The Avengers by combining four popular superheroes into one film: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. While it is not directly based on Frank Miller’s 1986 esteemed Batman comic book miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, Batman v. Superman takes its cues from that comic book’s finale, which shows an armored Batman in a bloody fisticuffs with Superman.

Those rival distributors who lowered their Batman v. Superman opening forecasts toward $100M have their suspicions about the Zack Snyder-helmed movie given the MPAA’s news that the home entertainment version of the movie would carry an R-rating. However, according to social media monitor RelishMix, since the R-rated news broke, the conversation for #BatmanvSuperman spiked 60% with 5K combined hashtags across Twitter and Instagram. Ninety-five percent of the chatter is positive about that R-rating.